Keep Calm and Master the Basics

Sequential Mastery

We’re discussing sequential mastery: Mastering the skills and content appropriate for a given academic level.

We’ve finished our discussion of the minimal skills and content for both primary and secondary grades.

Let’s look at three of the questions you might have if you’ve stuck with me this far:

• What if we’re behind?  
• What if we’re ahead?  
• What about earning college credit in high school?

Uh-oh. I think we’re already behind. Now what?

Remember that God's grace is sufficient for all things! Practically speaking, don’t assume you can just push your student through a class by having him sit in the seat every week. Math is not going to get easier for a student who has not mastered math facts. Reading comprehension is not going to get easier for a student who can’t narrate the content of what he just read. Writing is not going to get easier for a student who has not mastered basic sentence and paragraph construction.

Evaluating whether a student is missing skills and content requires digging a little deeper than a letter or percentage grade. If your student has been getting Cs and Ds, resist the temptation to make it a character issue immediately. Instead, look at the content of the assignments and the skills it takes to manage them. Has your student ever learned how to make a schedule for her homework time? Has your student ever mastered comma rules? Has he consistently practiced reading for comprehension before finding himself in situations where he must comprehend quickly and in high volumes?

Just because a student is missing a skill or a chunk of content doesn’t mean that you, the student, or another teacher has failed. Depending on how tuned in you are, it may just mean that NOW is exactly the right time to acquire that skill. It may also mean that the student struggled more in a previous year than anyone realized or mastered another core skill instead.

Take a deep breath and then take action. Get an accurate assessment of what skills are lacking. Make a concrete, incremental plan to shore up those areas. Work with teachers and tutors to help your student master the missing skills. When choosing whether to  1) back up and master “earlier” skills, 2) to forge ahead, or 3) try to do both at once, choose the first option whenever you can.

Wow! My 5th grader has already mastered all the elementary school basic skills. Should he start high school?

Not in outside classes! There is more to a successful experience in outside classes than academics. Outside classes require a level of mental and social maturity that can’t be hurried. Homeschool classes are different, but they are still a community of learners who learn best when everyone is “on the same page” or at least in the same chapter in the area of mental and social maturity. 

 If you feel that your 5th grader simply must begin Algebra, then explore those topics at home in a relaxed and non-threatening atmosphere. You’ll probably discover that there are skills surrounding the topic at hand that just aren’t there yet. Relax! There are lots of ways to continue to practice arithmetic before jumping into the deep end of the pool.

My high schooler can earn college credit. Isn’t that a great deal?

 Well, not necessarily.

• Practical considerations: Ask pointed questions and press for specific answers about exactly how these college credits can be applied and transferred. If they can only be applied at one school, you are limiting your student’s choices in the future. If they can only be applied as elective credits, you aren’t doing your student any favors and may not be saving any money. Those elective credits are valuable once the student gets to college. They are opportunities to pursue minors and concentrations and explore topics of interest. 
• Logical considerations: Just like other outside classes, college courses take skills mastered in the previous level (in this case, high school) to the next level. The vast majority of students work hard at mastering high school skills in high school. If the college course actually requires college-level work, how will a student master high school-level skills needed to be successful in college-level work? High school students don’t master high school skills by being given college-level assignments. They need instruction in the high school skills we just discussed. If the college course is actually teaching high school-level skills, it isn’t really a college course and saying it is leaves your student unprepared for the rigors of real college courses. The only student who might benefit from earning college credit in high school is the student who has already mastered the high school-level skills in that area of study and/or is a very mature thinker.
• Spiritual considerations: Most college classes are not considering basic worldview questions for the purpose of helping students understand what they believe. If not now, when?

 Wrap Up

• Learning is like a chain of basic skills that is only as strong as its weakest link. Sequential mastery is critical, but not daunting. It’s simple, low-tech, and inexpensive.
• The key is:
  • Consistency – A little bit often.
  • Completion – Finish what you start.
  • Focus – Grade-appropriate basics.

 --Patricia Samuelsen teaches The Great Conversation and Latin at Schola.